"This sharp and brilliant novel shows that truth cannot be seen from the outside. You'll absorb every anecdote's last detail as real human connection resurfaces and these women take steps to become the people they've always dreamed they'd be." -- Elle

"Strauss has a knack for inserting the kinds of surprises that shock but also strengthen the impact of the novel. " -- More.com

"This is the classic read-it-in-one-big-gulp book. Or spend several days at the beach with it; compelling from first page to last -- edgy, moving, human." -- Liz Smith, Page Six

"Colorful writing...Strauss takes on famed New York lodging the Four Seasons, filling the storied hostelry with colorful women characters who share a common human bond." -- New York Post

"Strauss has a knack for inserting the kinds of surprises that shock but also strengthen the impact of the novel. " -- Baltimore Morning Sun

"Stellar...Subplots play out and scenes are revisited courtesy of a number of perspectives--hotel employees, friends and family, hotel guests--creating a near mosaic with twinges of darkness....this is quite sublime. -- Publishers Weekly

"Mesmerizing...the characters in this moving novel are achingly sympathetic, their plights eminently relatable." -- Booklist

"Imminently entertaining...an insightful and engrossing character study of eight women not so very different than you or I. Looking past their superficial differences, you will find yourself identifying, in at least some small measure, with each and every one of them--like it or not!" -- Bookclubcheerleader.com

From Strauss (stories: The Joy of Funerals, 2003, etc.), a novel concerning a Manhattan Four Seasons manager who witnesses the alarmingly bleak lives of women (herself included) confronting the loss of youth...These New York stories